Facial tissues are well known in the art. The uses of facial tissues include, but are not limited to, blowing one's nose, cleaning one's glasses and other personal and household cleaning uses. Generally, a facial tissue dispensing system includes a stack of facial tissues placed within a container, usually a cardboard carton, or a plastic film package, commonly known as a pocket or portable pack.
The cartons are generally large in size. For example, a rectangular carton is generally about 9-3/8 inches in length by about 43/4 inches in height by 43/4 inches in width. These cartons are generally positioned by the user in a particular place in his or her home or office and left at that location. Thus, when the user desires a tissue, he or she must travel to the carton where it is located to dispense a tissue from the carton for his or her use.
On the other hand, portable packs are generally small in size. One example is about 7/8 inch in height by about 21/4 inches in width by about 41/4 inches in length. The portable packs are designed to travel with the user in his or her pocket, bag, purse or the like. Thus, when a user wants a tissue from a portable pack, he or she must merely reach into his or her pocket or purse to grab a tissue from the portable pack.
Various problems exist, however, with the current portable packs. One problem is that the portable pack may not be durable enough to withstand days or weeks in one's pocket or purse, the time usually required to use all of the tissues in a portable pack. A second problem may be that the closure device of the portable pack, which generally is a resealable opening, may not be durable enough to withstand repeated openings and closings, especially if the closure device is located at the same location as where the tissues are dispensed, i.e., the tissue dispensing opening. If the closure device is located at the tissue dispensing opening, the repeated and frequent act of pulling or drawing tissues over the resealable opening distorts and stretches the closure device, thereby rendering the device useless at keeping the portable pack closed. Therefore, if the portable pack is not durable enough, tissues could become dirty and/or fall out of the portable pack. Tissues may also become dirty as they are pulled out of the portable pack if the closure device accumulates dirt and lint on its adhesive portion.
Another problem with current portable packs is that it may not be quick and easy to access a tissue due to the folding of tissues placed in the portable pack. Because of the small size of portable packs, tissues must be folded multiple times in order to contain several tissues in the small space. However, because of the multiple folds, the user generally must unfold the tissue after dispensing it from the portable pack before being able to use the full-size tissue. This makes it difficult for the user to be able to use the full-size tissue quickly after dispensing it from the portable pack. Moreover, if the tissue needs to be used quickly, before the user has a chance to unfold it, the tissue may not be large enough to offer adequate protection. Another problem which results from the multiple folds is that the user may believe that the tissue is smaller than it actually is.
While portable packs are small in size, many of them are too bulky to be carried comfortably and discreetly in a user's pocket. For example, where the portable pack is about 7/8 inch in height, it is generally too bulky to be placed into one's pants pocket comfortably.
Because of the ability of the portable packs to travel, the range of uses of the facial tissues in a portable pack is greater than those kept in a carton in one location in a home or office. For a spill in one's home, a person can use a variety of materials to clean the spill, such as a facial tissue, a paper towel, a rag or the like. During travel, however, people generally do not have paper towels or rags contained in their purses or cars. Thus, facial tissues in the portable packs are used to clean a variety of spills and the like when paper towels and rags are not available. Current facial tissues in portable packs, however, may not be large enough to be effective in cleaning spills and the like when paper towels or rags are not available.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a portable, flexible pack tissue dispensing system which is durable enough to be stored in one's pocket or purse for long periods of time and which is durable enough to withstand repeated openings and closings. Moreover, it would be desirable to provide a portable, flexible pack tissue dispensing system which contains large tissue sheets yet which is still small and discreet enough to be placed comfortably and easily into one's pocket or purse. In addition, it would be desirable to provide a portable, flexible soft pack tissue dispensing system where the tissues contained therein are large enough to be suitable for a wide variety of tasks, such as nose-blowing, as well as cleaning up spills, in the alternative to a paper towel or rag.